The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 4.24 Trump's Putin Problem is Humiliating & Getting Worse, Andrew Shulz Pete Buttigieg Controversy & More

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

it’s coming off weak but we’ll see… Thanks to Tecovas for sponsoring this video! Visit https://tecovas.yt.link/AlIKEXm to get your new favorite pair of boots today! Use code “PHIL” for $20... OFF your first SeatGeek order & returning buyers use code “PDS” for $10 off AND your chance at weekly $500 prizes! https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/PHIL WEAR YOUR FEELINGS! https://BeautifulBastard.com Get 10% OFF with code "TARIFFS" Subscribe for New shows every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday @ 6pm ET/3pm PT & watch more here:  https://youtu.be/_8Ubf8Yn5Sc?si=qfPvUvaTn2pH7Xzu&list=PLHcsGizlfLMWpSg7i0b9wnUyEZWI-25N3&index=1  – ✩ TODAY’S STORIES ✩ – 00:00 - Pete Buttigieg’s Flagrant Podcast Appearance Goes Viral 06:29 - Trump Tells Putin to “STOP” After Attack on Kyiv 08:32 - Sponsored by Tecovas 09:38 - Trump Admin. Texted Barnard Professors Asking if They’re Jewish 13:04 - Billy McFarland Says Fyre Fest Brand is for Sale After Fyre Fest 2 Is Cancelled 15:39 - Trump Signs Education Orders Targeting College Accreditors, Foreign Funding, DEI 20:06 - Stroke Survivor Speaks After 18 Years with Experimental Brain-Computer Implant 22:07 - Sponsored by Seatgeek  22:40 - Comment Commentary Flagrant Podcast with Pete Buttigieg: https://youtu.be/bgx7GvYSq64?si=2HHmD7oMWafq3ZHQ  ——————————   Produced by: Cory Ray Edited by: James Girardier, Maxwell Enright, Julie Goldberg, Christian Meeks, Matthew Henry Art Department: William Crespo Writing/Research: Philip DeFranco, Brian Espinoza, Lili Stenn, Maddie Crichton, Chris Tolve, Star Pralle, Jared Paolino  ———————————— For more Philip DeFranco: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-philip-defranco-show/id1278424954 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ESemquRbz6f8XLVywdZ2V Twitter:   https://x.com/PhillyD Instagram:   https://instagram.com/PhillyDeFranco Newsletter: https://www.dailydip.co TikTok:   https://www.tiktok.com/@philipdefranco?lang=en ———————————— #DeFranco #DonaldTrump #Flagrant ———————————— Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:16 Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show, your daily dive into the news. I am Philip DeFranco, and we have a lot to talk about today, starting with this. Is Pee-Boo toieg the Democrats' secret weapon? Is he and or what he's doing moving the needle? Because two of the many, many things that Democrats have been hit on is, one, y'all suck at fucking messaging, and two, you're not seeking out areas
Starting point is 00:01:36 to have conversations that Republicans have and they've kind of taken over. But in the face of all that, we are seeing a lot of headlines and conversation around Buttigieg going on Andrew Schultz's Flagrant Podcast. Right in there, one of the main takeaways is you have a lot of people impressed by his ability to talk to an audience that's seen as kind of
Starting point is 00:01:50 the other side of the aisle, or at least more on the other side of the aisle. But with Schultz, at least over, I'd say, maybe the last year, being viewed more and more by others is at the very least a kind of MAGA-friendly comedian and host. Now, a big thing is that the episode was nearly three hours long,
Starting point is 00:02:03 so I don't have enough time to talk about everything they talked about. I'm gonna link to the video so you can watch it yourself. But we should definitely talk about moments that have been getting a lot of traction online, including this part barely 10 minutes in where Pete explained the necessity of government research. The federal government could not have invented the iPhone.
Starting point is 00:02:17 I don't think any of us would want a phone that was invented by the federal government. But what makes the iPhone work? Well, among other things, the internet. The internet was like invented by the federal government. But what makes the iPhone work? Well, among other things, the internet. The internet was literally invented by a federal research project. And it would never have been possible to invent the internet with a private company. Companies can do multi-billion dollar ideas, but a trillion dollar idea like inventing the internet, that requires basic research. And that's the kind of thing the government's supposed to do, among many other things. It requires basic research?
Starting point is 00:02:49 What does that mean? Yeah, by basic research, I mean things that are so fundamental that you actually don't know for 50 or 100 years if they're going to have a return. They might never work out. Oh, yeah, you can't look at it as this thing that's going to be profitable. But Pete, then noting that it's different from, say, research a pharmaceutical company does to create drugs with a specific intent to make money on those drugs. It's not about the profit element to which Andrew added. Public parks is another version of this and stuff like that. It's like you can't privatize the public park.
Starting point is 00:03:15 Right, this is the whole idea of public goods. Sure, sure, sure. This is why we have governments, why we collect taxes. God, we're turning into such libs already, dude. The war on academia, the cuts to cancer research, the cuts to science research, this kind of like general anti-science atmosphere that I think is emanating from the administration. That costs us in ways that don't show up on a corporate profit and loss statement six months from now or a year from now. That starts to really cost you over time. And if we're shorting that, or if corporations and extremely wealthy people don't want to be paying into that through taxes, that is, I think, a classic example of a kind of short-term gain that causes long-term pain. You know, even though there was obviously
Starting point is 00:03:56 joking involved, you had a lot of people noting that it seemed significant that Schultz said that he was living out for a second. And so with that, you had people writing things like, this is why these conversations matter. A lot of the hosts and audience would never hear a message like this one, but when they do, it makes sense. And others claiming, and like clockwork hasn't been 24 hours yet. One of my friends who voted for Trump, who listens to the flagrant podcast all the time, texted me saying that he was surprised, never heard of Pete, likes him. And if Dems nominated him, he'd vote for Pete B in a heartbeat. And that was, you know, far from the only clip getting attention, right? You had things like when talking about democratic messaging compared to Republican
Starting point is 00:04:26 messaging and where the left is failing to communicate policy ideas. Andrew had Pete kind of pitch what he wants for the country. I want everyday life to be better. That's what they want too. You get up in the morning. Yeah. But importantly, like all the controversies are over what that's like. Like I want you to be able to get up in the morning and the first thing you do is you commute to work. And by the way, if you're on an EV, I want that to be affordable for you. Or if you're on public transit, not to get back into the subway situation, but I want you to have good public transit to get to where you're going. And then when you get to that job, I want you to be paid well. And if
Starting point is 00:04:57 you're about to have a kid, I want you to know that you're going to have parental leave when you have that kid. And if you don't want to have a kid, I want you to have the right to choose whatever kid, which means access to birth control and abortion and those things that give you the freedom to decide on that. And if you already have a kid, when you picked them up at school, I want that school to be good,
Starting point is 00:05:12 not having its funding slashed while they set fire to the Department of Education. And that list just went on until they said- Cut that, that's fine. With that, you had people saying things like, this, this, this, every word of this, this is the way, this is how you talk to people. And repositioning the left as the party of true and maximal freedom is possible if it's things like this, this, this, every word of this, this is the way, this is how you talk to people. And repositioning the left as the party of true
Starting point is 00:05:27 and maximal freedom is possible if it's framed like this. With others saying this is evidence that Pete should run and others saying that any Dem who can't go on a three hour podcast where they get challenged by the host shouldn't be the nominee in 2028. Though this notably is not everyone thought that Pete's choice to go on the podcast was smart with, some saying, don't do this shit.
Starting point is 00:05:43 Pete shouldn't have sat with this bigoted asshole. He doesn't care. He returned to being a piece of shit immediately after.'" Though with that, you saw a lot of pushback with people arguing things like, anybody mad about Pete Buttigieg going on Andrew Schultz's podcast is not serious about winning elections.
Starting point is 00:05:56 You have to meet people where they are, not expect them to come to you. The question you should be asking is why your favorite Democrat isn't going into the lion's den and defending our values. Also with that, I think it's worth noting that once you go into the comments section of the episode, you have tons of people very open to Pete and what he's saying, right? Especially since this is coming as there's a much larger conversation happening about where the Democrats
Starting point is 00:06:14 go next. Because, you know, it's not a secret that the left ain't doing so hot right now. With the seeing and hearing voices getting louder and louder saying, we need some ideas. We need to change things. And so with that, some of the actions we've seen are leaders like AOC and Bernie Sanders having their fighting oligarchy tour. You know, we've seen them get massive crowds across the nation and some seeing this is especially huge for AOC because it kind of allows Sanders to pass the torch to her as a progressive leader.
Starting point is 00:06:36 You then also have the likes of Tim Walz launching a series of town halls and red districts trying to meet people where they're at and be a trusted figure doing the work to hear people out in those areas. And then just today, the DNC announcing an effort to send more money to state democratic parties, specifically focusing on red states.
Starting point is 00:06:50 Right under this new program, every single state party will receive a baseline of over $17,000 monthly, but Republican controlled states will get an extra $5,000 through the DNC's red state fund. What do you see in the New York Times explaining there? Well, the cash infusion will not pay for expensive television ad campaigns
Starting point is 00:07:05 "'or create robust democratic successes "'in red states overnight. "'It will help state parties hire more staff members, "'open new field offices, "'and invest in data and tech operations.'" You know, ultimately for now, we're gonna have to wait to see what sticks, what moves the needle, what pays off.
Starting point is 00:07:18 And in the meantime, as we watch, I'd love to know your thoughts on kind of any of the aspects we talked about here, but I'm especially interested in your thoughts on Pete going on flagrant. Personally, I think it's a great idea. I think it was a smart thing for Bernie Sanders to go on Theo Vaughn. Also, I'll say Pete is semi-unique in that he loves seemingly going into the lion's den.
Starting point is 00:07:34 Like, you know, he's no stranger to going on Fox News and talking and debating. I think it's gonna be very interesting to see what the Dems do in general, but also what a select few do. People like Pete Buttigieg and AOC, it feels like they got the juice right now. But then next up today in huge international news, Russia just launched its deadliest attack on the Ukrainian Capitol since last summer. And Donald Trump, he seemingly pissed with them
Starting point is 00:07:55 issuing a rare rebuke against Vladimir Putin for once instead of Zelensky. And with that, according to the Ukrainian president, Russia fired nearly 70 missiles, including ballistic ones, as well as roughly 150 attack drones at targets across Ukraine, injuring more than 80 people and killing at least nine people in Kyiv alone. With Zelensky also claiming that the Kremlin's latest attack
Starting point is 00:08:13 was quote, one of the most complex, most daring attacks coming from Russia. And this notably after Donald Trump said yesterday that he believes that Russia is ready to reach an agreement and further said he found it easier to deal with Putin than Zelensky. But now today you had Trump taking to social media to respond to the latest news, saying, I'm not happy about the Russian strikes on Kiev. Not necessary and very bad timing. Vladimir,
Starting point is 00:08:32 stop. 5,000 soldiers a week are dying. Let's get the peace deal done. But this also notably is, of course, we talked about yesterday, the Trump-backed peace deal that's on the table. It's reportedly heavily in Putin's favor, with it, among other concessions, reportedly involving the Kremlin getting nearly all of the territory that it's taken heavily in Putin's favor. With it among other concessions, reportedly involving the Kremlin getting nearly all of the territory that it's taken as well, as the US formally recognizing Crimea as Russian. Which, very key thing, is something that Zelensky has unequivocally ruled out, saying,
Starting point is 00:08:54 "'There is nothing to talk about. "'This violates our constitution. "'This is our territory, the territory "'of the people of Ukraine.'" With then, yesterday, because of that statement, you had Trump suggesting that Zelensky was the real obstacle to peace, claiming, "'Infl claiming inflammatory statements like that,
Starting point is 00:09:06 that makes it so difficult to settle this war. Though this is a key thing that Zelensky even pointed out, Trump's own administration during his first term firmly opposed any recognition of Crimea as Russian territory. With him also then pointing out at various times that Ukraine actually accepted a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in March while Putin refused.
Starting point is 00:09:23 But ultimately with neither side committing to the other US proposal, the fate of the whole peace process, it's really up in the air, especially as continued American involvement in general is in question. Because over the past week, the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened
Starting point is 00:09:34 to walk away. And yesterday we saw those planned peace talks in London being downgraded because US officials decided to not attend. Which you know, in their defense, there's a lot of other big stuff going on. The switch to pre-orders happened last night. You've got the NFL draft tonight. They had to get that Trump 2028 product page up. You know, there's a lot of other big stuff going on. The Switch 2 pre-orders happened last night. You've got the NFL draft tonight.
Starting point is 00:09:46 They had to get that Trump 2028 product page up. You know, there's just a lot going on. And then I've got more news for you in just a moment. But first, you know, I've been on the hunt for a solid pair of boots. You know, something that doesn't kill my feet or make me look like I'm cosplaying at a country music video shoot.
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Starting point is 00:10:53 or scan the QR code to check out Tecovus today. But then, next up today, we have the news that the Trump administration texted the personal phones of Barnard professors to ask them if they were Jewish, which I'll say just a little free advice to Team Trump. I talked to a few Jewish folks. Turns out, kind of crazy, Jewish people generally not huge on getting government correspondence asking them to identify themselves. But yeah, according to The Intercept, which first reported the news, most staff at the
Starting point is 00:11:16 Columbia-affiliated women's college received text messages from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. With those texts reportedly saying that the EEOC was reviewing the school's employment practices and asking them to complete a voluntary survey about their employment. And then, according Employment Opportunity Commission. With those texts reportedly saying that the EEOC was reviewing the school's employment practices and asking them to complete a voluntary survey about their employment. And then according to a screenshot of the survey shared by the New York Times, when respondents clicked the link,
Starting point is 00:11:31 they were asked to select from the following choices. "'I am Jewish,' "'I am Israeli,' "'I have shared Jewish-Israeli ancestry,' "'I practice Judaism,' and other." With the time zone also reporting that a later question asked staff whether they had experienced antisemitism
Starting point is 00:11:43 or anti-Israel sentiments as well as quote, "'Antisemitic or anti-Israeli protests, "'gatherings, or demonstrations "'that made you feel threatened, harassed, "'or were otherwise disruptive to your working environment.'" And after that text message went out, Barnard's general counsel sent an email to faculty, which was obtained by The Intercept,
Starting point is 00:11:58 informing them that the survey was part of the EEOC's ongoing investigation into alleged discrimination against Jewish employees, with the email also stating that the EEOC was legally entitled to obtain the contact information of Barnard's employees to send out the option to voluntarily participate in their investigation and that Barnard had complied with the request.
Starting point is 00:12:14 But very notably here, you also had the Columbia student newspaper reporting that Columbia had warned faculty in an email that it would be sending their personal contact information to the federal government. But this is Barnard faculty members that they did not receive the same warning. With for example, one Barnard professor
Starting point is 00:12:28 who reportedly spoke on the condition of anonymity telling the intercept that they were not aware of any professors at Columbia outside of Barnard receiving the text. Though they also said that several students had received it as well. And in her email, Barnard's general counsel appeared to admit that administrators
Starting point is 00:12:41 had failed to inform faculty that they were sharing their personal information with the government. Instead, writing that in the future, the school would provide advance notice when it was required to hand over contact information of employees unless they were legally prohibited from doing so. And then adding that the Trump administration
Starting point is 00:12:54 had not given the school advance notice that it was sending the messages. Right, but you know, with all this, one of the things we've seen is many faculty members expressing alarm about the tax, and the fact that Barnard shared their personal information with the government without notifying them. With this, including Nara Milanić, a history professor
Starting point is 00:13:07 who said that it reminded her of Italy in the 1930s when local governments put together lists of Jews and adding, "'We've seen this movie before "'and it ends with yellow stars.'" But they're then also going on to argue that the Trump administration appeared to be fishing for reports of antisemitism, saying, "'Evidently, they don't have sufficient people
Starting point is 00:13:22 "'to file lawsuits, so they have to go "'shake the trees to find people? You also had Debbie Boettcher, an associate professor who's Jewish and received a text saying that as a Jew, she found it a bit terrifying that the federal government quote, wants to know who the Jews are through some text message in Microsoft Office form. With Boettcher also arguing that as a Jew,
Starting point is 00:13:37 she doesn't believe that the Trump administration actually wants to combat antisemitism, but just cracked down on pro-Palestine speech saying, the administration of white nationalists has never been interested in antisemitism, an just cracked down on pro-Palestine speech saying, "'The administration of white nationalists "'has never been interested in antisemitism, "'an administration that is full of hate. "'It is farcical to say that what this is actually doing "'is protecting us from antisemitism,' and adding,
Starting point is 00:13:53 "'The government is weaponizing the EEOC "'in service of their own hatred "'and in service of their own desire "'to destroy higher education.'" And actually that last point was echoed by other professors who told The Intercept that they're concerned that the Trump administration is using EEOC
Starting point is 00:14:06 as a weapon to attack faculty who've spoken out against Israel on college campuses. And given these concerns, you had Becker arguing that it's especially alarming that Barnard shared the personal information of its staff with the government and adding, "'They're providing us with absolutely no assurances that they're protecting us and even just protecting
Starting point is 00:14:20 information about us that is private.'" But then next up from that in a very different story, you're never gonna believe this. Billy McFarland is apparently not someone you can count on. I know, up is down, black is white. I was shaking and vomiting from the surprise just minutes ago. But in good news, if anyone out there has spare change
Starting point is 00:14:37 and likes making really risky decisions, the Fyre Festival brand is up for sale now. But with this coming as there's been a ton of attention and controversy around Billy McFarland announcing Fyre Fest 2. Because as we talked about in with this coming as there's been a ton of attention and controversy around Billy McFarlane announcing Fyre Fest 2. Because as we talked about in the past, it was set to take place at the end of May in Mexico, but then the host city said the event wasn't happening
Starting point is 00:14:52 and then a second location fell through and it led to this massive scramble. With us seeing ABC News last week, reporting that ticket holders had received messages saying the fest was postponed and refunds would be issued. And yesterday you had Billy putting up a for sale sign writing, "'The brand is bigger than any one person
Starting point is 00:15:07 and bigger than what I'm able to lead on my own. It's a movement and it deserves a team with the scale, experience and infrastructure to realize its potential.'" And saying, "'We have decided the best way to accomplish our goals is to sell the Fyre Festival brand, including its trademarks, IP, digital assets, media reach and cultural capital to an operator
Starting point is 00:15:24 that can fully realize its vision. Right, and explaining that his goal in launching Fyre Festival 2 was finishing what I started and making things right. And with that, claiming that in his efforts to put this together, he proved that Fyre is one of the most powerful attention engines in the world. And arguing that any interested entrepreneur
Starting point is 00:15:39 who buys this totally not cursed brand, they have a strong path to become a leader in entertainment and media and adding, following the challenges we faced in Mexico, we were approached by several Caribbean destinations eager to host Fyre Festival 2. We're confident we've found the ideal location for the festival.
Starting point is 00:15:54 But adding, while I'm incredibly excited, I can't risk a repeat of what happened in Playa del Carmen where support quickly turned into public distancing once media attention intensified. For Fyre Festival 2 to succeed, it's clear that I need to step back and allow a new team to move forward. And saying the next chapter of Fyre will be bigger,
Starting point is 00:16:10 better and built to last without me at the helm. With a statement also directing interested buyers to learn more at Fyre.mx, where you can see Fyre's brand asset package, which includes the brand name, social media account, Caribbean festival location, documentary coverage and more. And something I really liked is that in the additional information section,
Starting point is 00:16:25 he touts that Fyre Festival has been the most talked about US based music festival in the world since 2017. Which yeah, I guess is technically true in the same way that we would talk about a plane full of adorable puppies crashing into an orphanage. Because Fyre Fest was talked about because it was one of the most memed disasters of all time. It made Fyre Fest synonymous with disaster
Starting point is 00:16:44 and it landed Billy a prison sentence for fraud. Like the most excitement we saw around Fyre Fest was from Netflix and Hulu because they had competing documentaries about what a disaster it was. But hey, for now, we'll have to wait to see what's in store both for Billy McFarland as well as the Fyre Fest brand.
Starting point is 00:16:57 But then from that next up, Trump just dropped seven executive orders on education. And we need to talk about the three biggest bombs he dropped. And so first up, you've got an EO that's aimed at the accrediting bodies that set standards that colleges and universities must meet to receive federal financial aid from students. And notably, this is something that Trump talked about
Starting point is 00:17:13 during his presidential campaign, with him describing the action against the accreditors as the secret weapon to weed liberal influence out of higher education, and also claiming these organizations had allowed US colleges to become, quote, dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics.'" So now with that, you have this executive order claiming
Starting point is 00:17:28 that accreditors have not only failed in the responsibility to determine which institutions provide a quality education, but also that they have, quote, "'abused their enormous authority.'" And as far as what kind of abuse, well, the order seems to be mostly aimed at DEI practices, which notably some accreditors have already dropped
Starting point is 00:17:43 or stopped enforcing in the wake of the broader Trump crackdown. Even as the legality of that crackdown is being challenged in court with a judge today, for example, partly blocking earlier directives that threatened to cut federal funding for K to 12 schools with DEI programs. Or with a judge saying that the administration
Starting point is 00:17:57 had not adequately defined DEI, that it had overstepped its authority over local schools, and that its policy threatened to restrict free speech in the classroom. But in any case, right back to the executive order, what we're seeing is that it specifically asked the secretary of education to hold accreditors accountable for what it called unlawful discrimination and other violations through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition. Though at the same time, you have the order calling for prioritizing intellectual diversity
Starting point is 00:18:22 among faculty. And then on top of that, it also aims to get new accreditors recognized supposedly to encourage more competition. Right in there saying the process needs to be updated so it's efficient and not unduly burdensome. But with all that and given Trump's previous comments, we might expect to see even more action being taken in this arena. With the saying, for example, the Associated Press
Starting point is 00:18:38 noting that the order is the opening salvo in what could be a lengthy battle to overhaul the accrediting industry. But that said, it brings us to executive order No. 2 we need to talk about, and that calls for the Education Department and the Attorney General to step up enforcement of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which notably requires colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more. With that order claiming that action needed to be taken because higher education institutions in the U.S. have routinely violated
Starting point is 00:19:04 the law and stating that noncompliance will result in appropriate federal grant funds not being provided. And case in point there, just last week you had the education department demanding records from Harvard on foreign financial ties spanning the past decade, with us seeing them accusing the school of filing incomplete and inaccurate disclosures. And this of course coming, one, after the Trump administration paused over $2 billion in grant money to the institution, and two, as this whole battle between the White House and the country's oldest university is still playing out. But that then brings us to the third executive order
Starting point is 00:19:30 that we're gonna talk about, and that is aimed at K-12 education. And it talks about getting back to, quote, "'Common sense school discipline policies." Right in there, a bludgeoning that discriminatory and unlawful equity ideology has posed a risk to children's safety and wellbeing in the classroom. And as far as what it's talking about there,
Starting point is 00:19:45 I mean, to start, a key point is that in many schools around the country, black students have been more likely to receive punishments that remove them from the classroom, including suspensions, expulsions, and transfers to other schools. Right with this, you may have also heard about the so-called school to prison pipeline, which is basically the idea that not being in school
Starting point is 00:20:00 or facing other harsh punishment, it increases the likelihood of ending up incarcerated. And with that, we saw back in 2014, Obama unveiling federal guidelines, urging schools not to suspend, expel, or refer students to law enforcement, except as a last resort, which we then saw Trump roll back during his first term.
Starting point is 00:20:14 But now what we're seeing that he's taking it a step further, including by calling for a review of nonprofit organizations that have pushed equity-based discipline policies and making sure that they don't receive federal money. And then finally, at least to give you like a surface level understanding
Starting point is 00:20:26 of the other executive orders, this one connected to what I was just saying, where you have government agencies and departments also being instructed to no longer rely on the so-called disparate impact rule, which simply put is the idea that policies that appear neutral can still be challenged if they disproportionately impact minorities
Starting point is 00:20:38 and other protected groups. You then have another one that creates a federal task force focused on giving America students training on artificial intelligence as early as kindergarten. Then another is purportedly about promoting excellence and innovation at historically black colleges and universities with many of the proposed initiatives focusing on increasing private sector partnership
Starting point is 00:20:53 and participation. And then the last one is about investing in education and workforce development for high skilled trade jobs, including by expanding apprenticeships. Which is actually why I will say that there may actually be some good stuff in there, but also and concerning for many people, a lot of it is clearly seeming to be about trying
Starting point is 00:21:08 to exert control over education at every single level. And actually on that note, already this week, more than 150 university presidents in the US have signed a statement condemning the Trump administration's quote, "'Unprecedented government overreach "'and political interference in higher education.'" But for now, we're gonna have to wait to see
Starting point is 00:21:22 where all of this leads. But then switching gears from that to a very different kind of news, a new brain implant gave this woman her voice back after losing it to a stroke. Right, so this is Ann Johnson. And when she was 30 years old in 2005, she had a stroke that left her paralyzed
Starting point is 00:21:36 and unable to speak. But then nearly two decades later at 47, she consented to doctors putting an experimental implant in her brain that connects to a computer called a brain computer interface or BCI. Right, and this implant, it was put into her motor cortex and it tracks her brain waves when she thinks of words that she wants to say.
Starting point is 00:21:50 And according to a recently published study, this implant, quote, "'converts her intent to speak into fluent sentences.'" And how we got to now, it's been a long road. The study saying that a team of researchers in California recorded Anne's brain waves while she silently spoke sentences in her head. And one of the studies coauthors saying,
Starting point is 00:22:05 this gave us a mapping between the chunked windows of neural activity that she generates and the target sentence that she's trying to say without her needing to vocalize at any point. And then using her voice from before her stroke, scientists built a synthesizer. So when she spoke, it sounded like her. Notably, this is not the first time
Starting point is 00:22:20 that we've seen people be able to speak again thanks to a brain computer interface. But the big difference between the BCI and previous iterations is the use of artificial intelligence. Whereas older systems had to decode full sentences at a time, this new one can continuously identify words from brain activity and translate them into speech within roughly three seconds. And with that, you had one of the study's authors saying that this new BCI works similar to something like Siri or Alexa. With them explaining, using a similar type of algorithm,
Starting point is 00:22:45 we found that we could decode neural data and for the first time, enable near-synchronous voice stream, saying the result is more naturalistic, fluent speech synthesis and adding, it's not waiting for a sentence to finish, it's processing it on the fly. Now, well, of course we should celebrate,
Starting point is 00:22:57 we also gotta keep things in check because while obviously this is a notable advancement, there's still a long way to go in order for this to sound like normal human speech. And as the Smithsonian Magazine points out, this new BCI can produce between 47 and 90 words per minute, and humans usually speak somewhere around 160 words per minute, or if you're me, 5,000. But as one of the study's co-authors pointed out, this, it's just the beginning, saying, this is where we are right now, but you can imagine with more sensors,
Starting point is 00:23:21 with more precision, and with enhanced signal processing, those things are only going to change and get better. But then, finally today, let's talk about y'all's comments on yesterday's show and some comment commentary, and give out a congratulations. Starting with a congrats to Arthur C., SeatGeek's latest weekly winner who just scored $500 in tickets,
Starting point is 00:23:37 and now he's deciding whether a Broadway show or a comedy night's in his future. And for the rest of y'all, that's right, SeatGeek is still giving away $500 in tickets, and you should definitely enter today if you haven't already. I mean, just imagine being the next winner and snagging $500 towards seeing your favorite artist, sporting event, or play. And y'all, there's over 70,000 events to choose from. And all you got to do is add code PDS to your SeatGeek app profile for a chance at the weekly $500 prize, no purchase necessary.
Starting point is 00:23:59 There are very few things that you can be certain of in life, but you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And, of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month. With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way. Subscribe today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile. different is calling. That said, diving into those comments,
Starting point is 00:24:35 unsurprisingly, there were a lot of comments about the autism registry. Because one of the things we talked about yesterday was RFK Jr., them talking about the autism registry as well as food dyes. And with that, the most liked comment on yesterday's show read, you'll never catch me, autism Gestapo. I was only ever diagnosed by my bullies in elementary school. You also had Saturnalia saying, RFK Jr. taking the wrong lessons from Schindler's List. With CorgiFan saying, He's thinking, how can we do it faster?
Starting point is 00:24:55 And this is a number of y'all separately were talking about how a national registry of people who are different historically has always ended so well. But then also, in addition to so many of those conversations and threads, you had a lot of people chiming in around Elon Musk. And there, I really saw y'all focusing on the fact that Elon Musk keeps saying, you know, those that are opposing him, they're being paid to do so. Which, you know, yesterday, my reaction to that was like,
Starting point is 00:25:15 come on, my guy. Those are the only reasons you might get pushback, right? Everyone who opposes you is apparently committing high-scale fraud, being paid, or a bot. It couldn't possibly be legitimate reactions to your actions. And actually hitting on that, y'all were saying things like, "'Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Starting point is 00:25:29 "'You're telling me I've been hating Elon for free "'when there was available funding for such things?' "'But that, my friends, is the end of your Thursday evening, "'Friday morning dive into the news. "'And I'm gonna miss you for a minute, "'but of course, don't worry. "'I got a brand new show for you every Monday, Tuesday, "'Wednesday, and Thursday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. Pacific.
Starting point is 00:25:45 "'Thank you for watching. "'I love yo faces, "'and I'll see you right back here on Monday.'"

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